At LEAP, nearly 300 Mount Holyoke students present about their internships and research experiences. You will hear from future policy makers, activists, entrepeneurs, data scientists, teachers, researchers, and market analysts. Most will tell stories of unmitigated success and transformative learning. Others will share details of unexpected challenges they faced, and how they were required to shift and adapt in response. Students worked in 42 countries in every imaginable field. They will discuss important issues of social justice, relate how they met challenges of communication and expression in new contexts, and talk about how to find and succeed in summer internships.

LEAP is designed to give students who aspire to undertake internships and summer research the opportunity to learn from their peers. It is also for the whole Mount Holyoke community where family, friends, faculty, staff and our alumnae come together to celebrate the work and contributions of the presenters.

We are hugely impressed by students in College 211 and inspired by their individual success and collective learning. Their work in bringing the LEAP Symposium to fruition was exceptional. We thank the faculty, staff, alumnae, donors, and internship and research providers whose contributions have make this event possible.

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“Eurocentrism is quite simply the colonizer’s model of the world.” - J.M. Blaut

In this panel, the discussions will center around defining and critiquing Western standards of teaching and the interns’ interactions with paradigms conforming to and challenging these standards. Chelsea Reid worked at The Renaissance Charter School in New York City, revising a curriculum that uses history as a lens to examine the Black Lives Matter movement. Wendy Williams partnered with The Cheerful Heart Foundation in Kasoa, Ghana to teach English to children trafficked into the fishing Industry. Autumn Welch taught English and conducted research in La Plata, Argentina at Home Intercultural Learning Center, seeing how a curriculum that challenged a Eurocentric viewpoint was put into practice.

Chelsea Reid spent the summer working at the Renaissance Charter School in New York, developing and editing a a high school curriculum that contextualizes the Black Lives Matter Movement within U.S. history.

Intercultural Learning in Argentina: a Developing Model of Teaching, Art Studio & East Asian Studies Major

Autumn Welch worked as a teaching and research intern at Home Intercultural Learning Center in La Plata, Argentina. She taught students of all ages conversational and business English through an interdisciplinary approach that aimed to give a multicultural perspective. She also conducted... Read More →

Mind Shift: Leaving Western Teaching Practices and Flowing in Spontaneity, Music Major

Wendy Williams partnered with the Cheerful Hearts Foundation in their efforts to stop child trafficking within the fishing villages of Ghana, West Africa. She taught English to 4th, 5th and 6th graders at the Franklin Memorial Institute in Kasoa, Ghana. She will be speaking at the... Read More →